Body-conscious Russians a lot like Europeans

Artistic director at the Quick Drawing Club doesn’t see any particular difference between how foreigners and Russians treat their bodies. Source: PhotoXpress

Russians are traditionally viewed as being harsh and unconcerned about their bodies, but it turns out that this is far from reality.

Russians reacted vehemently when the
artist Pyotr Pavlensky nailed his genitals to a cobblestone in Moscow’s Red
Square in an act of protest last month. It turns out, people were less anxious
about his political convictions than about the damage done to his body.

RBTH asked several prominent artists
and performers about Russian views on the human body:

Dmitry Gorelyshev, artistic director
and instructor at the Quick Drawing Club

Since the Quick Drawing Club started,
around 100 people have posed [nude] for us, and around 35 people work
regularly. We’ve had models that represent a broad array of ages, physiques,
professions and nationalities. I don’t see any particular difference between how foreigners and
Russians treat their bodies. Nearly all of them come to try their hand at
something new, to participate in some way in the creative process—to see how
they’ll look in observers’ drawings.

A lot more young women than men want to
pose, because women more inherently like being the center of attention. This
ingrained trait is more rare in young men; many of them are shy, but if the
trait is intrinsic, it’s more excessive than in women. Interestingly, after the
sitting, it is the young men who more closely look at the completed
drawings—for women, the drawing is often a secondary factor.

Pavel Evdokimenko, rheumatologist

Many kinds of people come to see me.
There are quite a few hypochondriacs who start treating themselves at the
slightest ailment, and there are people at the other end of the spectrum who
have a completely irresponsible approach. There are also plenty of foreigners
who neglect their health.

Alexander Grigoryevsky, dance
teacher

Russian women are much more painstaking
about their appearance than Europeans or Americans. It’s a myth that Russians
pay less attention to their bodies and clothes. And as a result of this, the
number of health clubs, dance schools and beauty salons is growing here.

However, our lifestyle now is such that
all the people who come to me are plagued by physical inactivity. We are all
feeble and flabby and don’t know how to use our bodies because we have nowhere
to go to use them. We don’t walk, but rather sit at the keyboard until
something starts to hurt. People start to take care of themselves when you give
them a nudge and show them that something isn’t right.

Maria Sbytova, photographer

Russians fall into one of two extremes:
either they completely ignore their body and don’t worry about it at all, or
they turn their body into some sort of “Christmas tree” that they continually
improve, adorn, touch up and “cover with flashy things.” This often occurs in
defiance of common sense.

For example, Russian women adore
high-heeled shoes. Concern about themselves and their body is replaced by the
desire to look attractive. On the other hand, men in Russia often spread the
idea that “it isn’t manly” to take care of oneself. They inwardly run away,
throw on a clean T-shirt, and they’re done.

Neither extreme builds people’s
self-confidence, and a lot of people are afraid to be photographed because
they’re supposedly not photogenic.

Irina Kolesnikova, fine-art
photographer

People treat their bodies in a wide
variety of ways, but there’s a curious consistency: the prettier the woman, the
more complexes she has. Consequently, the most beautiful people turn out to be
the most difficult at a shoot—they are inordinately perfectionistic. A body’s
beauty depends greatly on a person’s inner state.

Photographing in the new style
therefore has a therapeutic effect. The person often finds self-confidence and
feels beautiful. There are people who change their lives after this, and there
are people for whom the impact wears off after a week. Everyone has different
reasons for coming to a photo shoot, but most often they have a need to feel
beautiful and rid themselves of their complexes, and some come in order to snuff
out their vanity.

Over the summer I gave a master class
in Europe and can say that we hardly differ from foreigners.

In my work, I often have to undress
young women and examine their bodies and the way in which they “sell” them. As
recently as three years ago, many young women were interested in being
photographed in the nude; this was perceived as a pastime. Now, the situation
has changed, not only in Russia, but also in Europe. Being photographed nude is
now bad and a disgrace. But it’s permissible if it’s on a cover and for a lot
of money—in that case it’s an achievement. The body is more intensely becoming
an object of trade and manipulation, and this goes for both sexes.

As for the difference between young
women in Russia and Europe, Russian bodies are much more groomed—every young
Russian woman carries around half a suitcase of full of every type of cosmetic
to take care of her needs. European women do not have such habits. On more than
one occasion, Spanish women have shown up for a lingerie shoot without being
particularly well groomed, and they got insulted if they were asked to fix
themselves up.